Doubletake
by Reinamy
Summary: Sometimes love can be found in the unlikeliest of places; the trick is keeping yourself open to the possibility. Modern AU.
1. Admire

**Title:** Doubletake

 **Author:** Reinamy

 **Pairing:** Kagome/Kouga

 **Rating:** PG-13 (subject to change)

 **Warnings:** Modern AU, situational ooc-ness, mature-ish themes and language, Kouga being Kouga, etc.

 **Summary:** Sometimes love can be found in the unlikeliest of places. The trick is keeping yourself open to the possibility of it.

 **Author's Note:** I love this pairing. I do. I think Kouga is adorable (also: smoking hot) and his love for Kagome makes me want to melt into a puddle of sparkly goo. I was intending to write a K/K fic set in the canon universe but somehow this happened. I'm not even a little bit sorry. Also, in this universe, not only do miko have a slightly longer lifespan (I'm thinking 130-150, dependent on power) but a mating bond between a youkai and a human could prolong a human's life to be on par with that of a hanyou's. Because nothing is more depressing than one half of a loving relationship outliving the other by a tremendous margin.

Small installments (100-500 words) will define this story, each one inspired by a one-word prompt from the 100.4 table provided at the LJ community, _100quills_. That being said, most chapters will be posted in chronological order and I'll do my utmost to ensure they flow together seamlessly. Happy reading, everyone!

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 **[ dou·ble take ]**

 ** _Noun._ a delayed reaction to something unexpected, immediately after one's first reaction.**

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 _ **Prompt:** #100 - Admire | **Words:** 240_

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"Hands off, pervert!"

Kagome watched with satisfaction as red bloomed across the guy's face. _That'll_ teach him to grab girls like they were his playthings!

"You hit me," the guy said, brushing his cheek with his claws. Even when the print faded and the skin returned to its normal coloring his hand didn't fall.

"Should I congratulate you on your powers of observation, Captain Obvious?" Kagome sniped, planting her hands on her hips. She pointedly ignored her friends whispers of caution. "You owe me an apology, by the way."

The guy standing behind the pervert slapped a hand over his forehead.

"Feh, over my dead body."

Kagome narrowed her eyes and stepped forward. She wasn't going to let _anyone_ intimidate her, let alone some _youkai._ " _That_ ," she said, letting her power seep into her eyes, "can be arranged."

Most youkai his age would have backed off already. Which was why Kagome was taken completely off guard when he flashed forward in a single step, grabbed her hands and brought them to his chest, and said vehemently, "Marry me, woman."

" _Did he just…"_ Kagome heard Yuki murmur behind her, but she was hardly paying attention to anyone but the pervert gripping her hands.

After a moment of stunned silence she demanded, "Are you _crazy_?"

"I'm Kouga," he continued as if he hadn't heard her. "And you, miko, are going to be _mine._ "

Needless to say, Kagome slapped him again.

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 _ **A/N: To be continued.**_ **Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you'll let me know what you think!**


	2. Apart

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who took the time to review/favorite the first chapter! I'm glad to see that there's some interest in this!

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 _ **Prompt:**_ _#85 – Apart |_ _ **Words:**_ _177_

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It wasn't until a half-year after their first meeting that Kouga saw her again. During that time he'd certainly thought about her often enough—the fledgling miko who'd had the gall to smack _him,_ heir to the eastern okami-youkai clan, not once but _twice._ A tiny slip of a human who Kouga could have easily crushed between his claws before she could even _think_ to protect herself, and yet she hadn't smelled like fear.

She'd confronted him with a voice as steady as her heartbeat, her scent thickening like the air before a storm, and Kouga becoming enthralled had been inevitable. His brothers, Ginta and Hakkaku, thought he'd been joking about his marriage proposal.

But Kouga wasn't so sure that he had been.

Surely, if he'd been joking, he wouldn't have spent so much time thinking about her.

Surely, if he'd been joking, his heart wouldn't have climbed to his throat when he saw her again nearly six months later.

And surely, if he'd been joking, his first thought when their gazes locked wouldn't have been _mine._

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 **A/N: _To be continued._ Thanks for reading!**


	3. Interesting

_**Prompt:** Interesting | **Words:** 174_

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When Inuyasha, an inu-hanyou who was the closest thing Kouga had to a comrade outside his pack, invited him to hang out with him and his _human_ friends, Kouga hadn't hesitated to accept. Humans were _interesting_ , and though the two species cohabited the planet more peaceably than they'd done a century ago—before the third ningen-youkai war which paved the way for global cohabitation—they tended to keep to themselves for the most part.

"There's Miroku, an apprentice monk, and his girlfriend, Sango, who…you know what, I don't even know _what_ she does except that I'm pretty sure it involves killing things. Anyway, then there's Kagome, who's my best friend, I guess, and her sister, uh, Kikyo…they're both miko apprentices at a Shrine."

Kouga smirked at the red tint that stole over the hanyou's face, as bright as that blinding sweater he wore.

"Kikyo, huh?" he said, nudging his friend in the side.

Inuyasha's scowl did nothing to hide his embarrassment. "Shut up, wolf."

Kouga's bark of laughter drew stares from the whole street.

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 **A/N:** _ **To be continued.**_ **Thanks for reading!**


	4. Power

_**Prompt:** #32 – Power | **Words:** 442_

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Her scent is what captured his attention first—faint powder, a hint of raspberries, female musk, and underneath that, something that teased the edges of his memory but couldn't be grasped. He followed it to its source, which was a human girl of average build who had her back to him. A back that quivered with laughter as the guy next to her said something apparently humorous.

Kouga didn't need to be told that _she_ was the aforementioned miko. Her spiritual power was massive, even as obviously suppressed as it was, wafting from her skin as a pink glow that gave her form an ethereal quality.

His skin started itching as he drew closer, followed by a primal instinct to retreat which he forcibly shoved down.

"You'll get used to it. Her power," Inuyasha elaborated at Kouga's slanted glance. "It puts your teeth on edge at first but the more time you spend near her the easier it becomes to ignore."

"Is it dangerous? That…"

"Pink stuff? Nah. It tingles a bit when you touch it, but unless you mean her actual harm it won't do nothin' to you. You know how air shimmers above a fire? It's like that. Hot, but it ain't harmful."

"So it's a warning of what lies beneath it."

The hanyou's answering grin was sharp, reminding Kouga of what Inuyasha had said about him and the miko being best friends. "Exactly."

"Was she always that powerful?" he asked, eyes involuntarily drawn to the incandescent figure. There was something _familiar_ about her, and it irritated him that he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"Yes and no. She was always strong for a miko, but she didn't fully come into power until a few months ago. Yeah, kind of a late bloomer. Surprised the hell out of _everyone_. Hachi, one of our friends, wouldn't go near her for days afterward."

"I can hear you, y'know," a feminine voice called out, and at once Kouga's heart began to race because he _knew_ that voice, had replayed it over and over from memory during whatever quiet moments he could snatch in recent months.

Inuyasha hollered something back, but Kouga could barely hear him over the deafening rush of blood in his ears, the thundering in his chest, the sudden onslaught of a single word reverberating in his head.

 _Mine,_ he thought as the girl finally turned around, baring her profile to him. Sea-green eyes hungrily devoured the vision of pale skin, dark hair, and delicate facial features. Took in her wide, almond-shaped eyes, the color of slate, that peaked out from under a wind-swept fringe.

 _Mine,_ he thought, and stepped forward.

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 **A/N: _To be cont'd_. Thanks for reading! **


	5. Delight

**A/N:** Sorry this took so long to update! Happy reading, everyone!

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 _ **Prompt:** #8 – Delight | **Words:** 517_

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Kouga was accustomed to the way instinct sometimes took over, loosening his tongue and driving his limbs as his brain scrambled to keep up with what his senses prompted him to do. And he allowed it, more often than not, because when rationality failed and emotion addled, it was instinct that took rein, its sole ambition ensuring that its host's conscious and unconscious needs were met.

Closing the distance between himself and the miko— _Kagome_ , his mind joyfully supplied, because in the chaos of their last interaction he'd walked away without ever having learned it—was instinct. As was gathering her hands in his own and drawing them against his chest, which ached from the impact of his heart hammering against his ribcage.

 _Mine,_ he thought, gaze taking in each minute change in her flickering expression and cataloguing them all for future reference. She truly was lovely, all sharp contrasts and striking features; dark hair fanning pale skin, grey eyes that shone, delicate lineaments that effortlessly contorted with ire.

Kouga had known women who were, perhaps, more _conventionally_ beautiful, but he'd never before met any whose face was a mosaic he felt he could spend his whole life studying. Or whose eyes were a seabed he'd willingly travel a lifetime to reach.

 _Lovely,_ he thought, _and mine._

"Woman," Kouga said reverently, ignoring the way her power warmed threateningly at their point of contact, rising like exhaust fumes waiting to be lit.

"Oh," was her flat response. "It's you."

"You remember me!" he crowed.

"You're kind of hard to forget," she said dryly, likely not intending it to be the compliment Kouga took it for. He couldn't bring himself to care; not when the prospect of being forgotten by the one who'd carved a permanent place of residence in his thoughts was so much worse.

"Think of me often, do you?" he asked, drawing her in closer.

"I've made leaps and bounds in archery practice thanks to you," Kagome offered, and the power that surrounded her gave a warning pulse.

Kouga only laughed, paying it little heed. Powerful, beautiful, _and_ witty. The more time he spent with her, the more she unwittingly revealed just how _suitable_ she was. And how he yearned to discover more, yearned to strip her layer from layer until he reached the very core of her, yearned to finally be able to articulate that which his instincts could not put into words.

"You're welcome," Kouga said magnanimously, and felt his smirk broaden when the corners of Kagome's lips twitched into a reluctant smile.

Kouga opened his mouth, another instinctive marriage proposal hovering at the tip of his tongue, when a sudden jolt of pain at the back of his head caused the words to scatter. A stunned pause, and then he was turning, hackles rising and claws elongating in preparation to slice into ribbons whomever had _dared_ to assault him, only to stop short at the sight of an enraged hanyou glowering up at him.

"You and I," Inuyasha said, gripping Kouga's elbow and viciously tearing him away from the miko, "need to talk."

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 **A/N: _To be continued_. Thanks for reading! **


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